Various types of railing systems are known. Generally speaking, railings can serve to divide an area into two or more regions and also can serve safety functions. For example, railings are conventionally found where there is a change in elevation, such as at a landing or as a guide on a stairway, or as guides on pathways.
Railing systems often include plate glass panels or other planar structures. Examples of systems that secure planar structures are post railing systems, aluminum railing systems, and cap railing systems. These types of systems can suffer from a number of disadvantages, such as labor intensive installation, and requirements for customized components. Customized components, are undesirable because of increased time and labor costs required when taking measurements, crafting the components, and then installing the system. Additionally, customized components may not have the same appearance as “off the shelf” components that may be used in the same system. An example of a customized component is an angled section such as used at corners and angle transitions.
One example of a post railing system is the CLR HRS Post Railing System from C. R. Laurence, Company, as shown in Railing Systems Catalog HR05, pages R87-93 (2004). Such a railing system can be constructed of posts, such as made from stainless steel or brass, which are fixed in the ground. Between the posts are panels made of glass or other materials that are held in place by a plurality of clamps and are supported by the posts. Each post has a “saddle cut” at the top, into which an upper rail may be welded into place. In this type of railing system, the upper rail is supported by the posts and is often comprised of pipe. A disadvantage of this system, however, is the need to custom fabricate some of its components. As a result, installation or fabrication times may be longer than otherwise possible via the use of standardized, or “off-the-shelf” components. Accordingly, there is a need for a railing system that requires a reduced amount of custom parts reducing installation and fabrication times and expenses.
Another type of known railing system is an aluminum railing system, such as available from C. R. Laurence, Company, as shown in Railing Systems Catalog HR05, page R94-R103 (2004). Such a system employs a post fastened to the ground, to which top and bottom rails are fastened with nuts, bolts, screws, or other hardware. Various materials can be placed between the top and bottom rails, such as glass or pickets. One disadvantage of this type of system involves the manner of attaching the rails to the posts. In particular, mechanical fasteners may be aesthetically unappealing and also subject to undesired tampering or removal.
Another type of railing system is a cap railing system, such as available form C. R. Laurence, Company, as shown in Railing Systems Catalog HR05, pages R37-R62 (2004). Such a system can include several glass panels mounted to the ground and extending vertically. A cap rail is provided that has a channel extending along its bottom surface. The cap rail is affixed to the top edge of the glass panels. Unlike the post railing system, the rail in the cap railing system is supported by the glass panels.
Generally speaking, building codes can require at least three glass panels to be used with a cap railing system so as to enhance safety in case one of the glass panels breaks. Such design requirements have the disadvantage of requiring a minimum number of panels as dictated by safety concerns, and thereby decreasing design flexibility and impairing visual appearance in some circumstances. An example of this disadvantage may occur when an architect wishing to design a cap railing system having two glass panels may be forced to choose between a three-panel cap railing system or a two-panel post railing system. A further disadvantage of such a cap railing system is that if a glass panel breaks, the repairs involve removal of the cap rail from several glass panels to allow replacement of the broken panel, making repair more time consuming and costly.
Accordingly, there is need of an improved railing system that does not rely on glass panels to support the cap rail and can be installed, maintained and repaired economically and in a time efficient fashion. There is also a need of an aesthetically pleasing railing system employing glass and other materials that requires less customization than other known systems and can be provided with many standardized components reducing installation costs, time and so on.